Chapitre Sept
L’imparfait, Forming le gérondif
Exercice 7.7 - 7.13
L’imparfait
L’imparfait is a past tense used to:
Discuss recurring actions in the past (“used to” or “would”)
Quand j’étais plus jeune, je dansais souvent.
Discuss ongoing actions in the past (“was __-ing”)
J’écoutais de la musique tout en nettoyant la maison.
Describe people (physical characteristics, age, state), feelings, scenes, or situations in the past.
Aaron se sentait nerveux avant de faire sa présentation.
Discuss time, age (remember to use avoir), and weather in the past.
Ma meilleure amie et moi, nous faisions des canulars téléphoniques quand nous avions seize ans.
To conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense, we must build this tense by:
taking the present tense conjugation in the nous form
dropping the -ons ending from le présent and adding the endings for l’imparfait
Endings for l’imparfait
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | je -ais | nous -ions |
| 2nd person | tu -ais | vous -iez |
| 3rd person | il -ait
elle -ait on -ait |
ils -aient
elles -aient |
The imperfect tense of il y a is il y avait—there was or there were.
Let’s follow the steps to get there. The a in il y a comes from the infinitive avoir, so we will start with that infinitive.
Present tense conjugation: Nous avons
Drop the -ons and add the endings for l’imparfait
Avoir conjugated in imperfect tense
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | j’avais | nous avions |
| 2nd person | tu avais | vous aviez |
| 3rd person | il avait
elle avait on avait |
ils avaient
elles avaient |
Modèles :
Il y avait beaucoup de gens à la fête de Charles. Il est très extraverti et il a beaucoup d’amis.
Il n’y avait rien à manger à la réunion cet après-midi, et j’avais faim.
The imperfect tense of il faut is il fallait—it was necessary/one had to.
Modèle : Quand on était enfant, il fallait se coucher tôt et se brosser les dents avant de se coucher.
Modèles :
Suzanne ne parlait jamais quand elle était petite car elle était timide.
Quand mon cousin habitait à New York, il sortait rarement de son quartier. Il disait qu’il pouvait obtenir facilement tout ce qu’il voulait pas trop loin de son appartement.
The imperfect tense can be used with a gerund to communicate that a person was doing something while also doing something else.
While l’imparfait is more common than le gérondif, the two can be used together to talk about simultaneous events that happened in the past.
Note: Do not confuse the following
- l’imparfait must agree with 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular or plural and is used with a subject pronoun; it is used to say “was _-ing” or “used to”
Il parlait avec sa sœur. - le gérondif is used to say “while/by _-ing” and does not take a subject pronoun
Il cuisinait en parlant avec sa sœur.
Forming le gérondif
Le gérondif, or the gerund in English, is the -ing form of a verb. It is used in French to say “while/by _-ing.” In French, the gerund always comes after en.
We form le gérondif by:
- taking the present tense conjugation in the nous form
- dropping the -ons ending from le présent and adding ant: en parlant
Modèles :
Je rangeais ma chambre tout en regardant la télé.
Je faisais de l’exercice tout en écoutant de la musique.
Elles parlaient en attendant le bus.
Je mangeais une portion de gâteau tout en bronzant à la piscine.
Exercice 7.7
Exercice 7.8
Exercice 7.9
Exercice 7.10
Exercice 7.11
Exercice 7.12
Exercice 7.13
When I was younger, I used to dance a lot.
I listened to music while I was cleaning the house.
Aaron was feeling nervous before giving his presentation.
My best friend and I used to make prank calls when we were sixteen.
There were a lot of people at Charles' party.
He's really extroverted and has lots of friends.
There was nothing to eat at the meeting this afternoon, and I was hungry.
When we were kids, you had to go to bed early and brush your teeth before going to bed.
Suzanne didn't talk at all when she was little because she was shy.
When I was a kid, I ate tomato soup with a croque monsieur sandwich every day after school while I was doing my homework.
When my cousin lived in New York, he rarely left his neighborhood.
He said he could easily get everything he wanted not too far from his apartment.
He was speaking with his sister.
He was cooking while speaking with his sister.
while speaking
I was cleaning my room while watching the TV.
I was cleaning while listening to music.
They were talking while waiting for the bus.
I had a piece of cake while tanning by the pool.
